Than now, vin danger shall be thinew stel iT Thy dauntless, voluntary linet

d

or obnesla baSince first, when conquering York arosent 8 ToHenrymeek she gave repose,lot bollo ylimst aid -eysa od olqooq deilyn't odT doo visuometnos

1 Henry VI., with his Queen, his heir and the chiefs of his family, fled to Scotland after the fatal battle of Towton. In this note a doubt was formerly expressed, whether Henry VI. came to Edinburgh, though his Queen Als Queen certainly did; Mr. Pinkerton inclining to believe that he remained at Kirkcudbright. But my noble friend, Lord Napier, has pointed out to me a grant by Henry, of an annuity of forty marks to his Lordship's ancestor, John Napier, subscribed by the King himself, at Edinburgh, the 28th day of August, in the thirty-ninth year of his righ, which corresponds to the your of God, 1461. This plant, Dougl with it usual neglect of accuracy, dates in 1868berBut this! ertör belle corrected from the copy in Macfarlane's MSS 11920, removes hit scepticism on the subject of Henry VI being really at Edinburgh! John Napier was son and help P [S88edmstqsa de litou 919dt beniemer

Till late, with wonder, grief, and awe,
Great Bourbon's relics, sad she saw.'

Truce to these thoughts!-for as they rise,
How gladly I avert mine eyes,
Bodings, or true or false, to change,
For Fiction's fair romantic range,
Or for Tradition's dubious light,
That hovers 'twixt the day and night:
Dazzling alternately and dim,
Her wavering lamp I'd rather trim,
Knights, squires, and lovely dames, to see,
Creation of my fantasy,

Than gaze abroad on reeky fen,

And make of mists invading men.

Who loves not more the night of June
Than dull December's gloomy noon?

Sir Alexander Napier, and about this time was Provost of Edinburgh. The hospitable reception of the distressed monarch and his family, called forth on Scotland the encomium of Molinet, a contemporary poet. The English people, he says,—

1

66

Ung nouveau roy créerent,
Par despiteux vouloir,
Le vieil en deboutérent,

Et son legitime hoir,
Qui fuytyf alla prendre
D'Escossé le garand,

De tous siecles le mendre,

Et le plus tollerant."

Recollection des Avantures.

[In January 1796, the exiled Count d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. of France, took up his residence in Holyrood, where he remained until August 1799. When again driven from his country by the Revolution of July 1830, the same unfortunate Prince, with all the immediate members of his family, sought refuge once more in the ancient palace of the Stuarts, and remained there until 18th September, 1832.]

The moonlight than the fog of frost?
And can we say, which cheats the most?

But who shall teach my harp to gain
A sound of the romantic strain,
Whose Anglo-Norman tones whilere
Could win the royal Henry's ear,'

Famed Beauclerc call'd, for that he loved
The minstrel, and his lay approved?
Who shall these lingering notes redeem,
Decaying on Oblivion's stream;

Such notes as from the Breton tongue
Marie translated, Blondel sung?-
O! born, Time's ravage to repair,
And make the dying Muse thy care:
Who, when his scythe her hoary foe
Was poising for the final blow,

The weapon from his hand could wring,
And break his glass, and shear his wing,
And bid, reviving in his strain,

The gentle poet live again;

Thou, who canst give to lightest lay
An unpedantic moral gay,

'Mr. Ellis, in his valuable Introduction to the "Specimens of Romance," has proved, by the concurring testimony of La Ravaillere, Tressan, but especially the Abbe de la Rue, that the courts of our Anglo-Norman Kings, rather than those of the French monarch, produced the birth of Romance literature. Marie, soon after mentioned, compiled from Armorican originals, and translated into Norman-French, or romance language, the twelve curious Lays, of which Mr. Ellis has given us a precis in the Appendix to his Introduction. The story of Blondel, the famous and faithful minstrel of Richard I., needs no commentary. A A 17*

Nor less the dullest theme bid flit
On wings of unexpected wit;
In letters as in life approved,
Example honour'd, and beloved,—
Dear ELLIS! to the bard impart
A lesson of thy magic art,

To win at once the head and heart,—
At once to charm, instruct, and mend,
My guide, my pattern, and my friend!

Such minstrel lesson to bestow
Be long thy pleasing task,-but, O!
No more by thy example teach,
-What few can practise, all can preach,-
With even patience to endure

Lingering disease, and painful cure,
And boast affliction's pangs subdued
By mild and manly fortitude.
Enough, the lesson has been given:
Forbid the repetition, Heaven!

Come listen, then! for thou hast known,
And loved the Minstrel's varying tone,
Who, like his Border sires of old,
Waked a wild measure rude and bold,
Till Windsor's oaks, and Ascot plain,
With wonder heard the northern strain.'
Come listen! bold in thy applause,

The Bard shall scorn pedantic laws;

'[At Sunning-hill, Mr. Ellis's seat, near Windsor, part of the first two cantos of Marmion were written.]

And, as the ancient art could stain
Achievements on the storied pane,
Irregularly traced and plann'd,
But yet so glowing and so grand,-
So shall he strive, in changeful hue,
Field, feast, and combat to renew,
And loves, and arms, and harpers' glee,
And all the pomp of chivalry.